Guitarist will stage global musical journey at Broomfield Auditorium

'Night Around the World' Sunday

MUSICAL TOUR DIRECTOR: Guitarist Manuel Molina, pictured in Rio de Janeiro, and a lineup of guests bring global sounds to the Broomfield Auditorium Sunday with A Night Around the World.

What: Manual Molina presents "A Night Around the World"

When: 3:30 p.m. Sunday

Where: Broomfield Auditorium, 3 Community Park Road

Tickets: $30, includes VIP reception immediately following

Information: 720-435-6642

Locals this weekend can experience a world tour of sorts, without the purchase of airline tickets, long hours spent on a road trip or riding the rails. From a comfortable seat in the Broomfield Auditorium on Sunday, guests will be taken on a journey through Brazil and Peru, Russia and Cuba, and Hungary and Puerto Rico.

The conductor for the journey will be Manuel Molina and his guitar.

Molina is bringing his third annual concert, "A Night Around the World," to Broomfield, along with singers, dancers, violinists and other musicians. While the Peruvian artist has performed around the world, he said his concert in Broomfield is his personal "psychiatrist concert," because he does it for the passion and joy of making music for the community.

"It's not Carnegie Hall ... but this is something even more special, and I will have amazing virtuosos with me," he said.

The Broomfield Auditorium is an intimate venue, with only 295 seats.

Karen Gerrity, Broomfield Cultural Affairs manager called the Audi a "live house," because the sound is great, making it a perfect place for music. She added that there really isn't a bad seat in the theater.

Gerrity is pleased to have Molina back for his third year. She enjoys his music and she said it is great to have a multicultural artist come to town.

Molina performs, records and engineers music around the globe, and makes a good living at it, but he feels his real passion when he is performing for families.

"Families bring their kids and they are exposed to something different."

Some kids, he said, only think music is what they hear on the radio.

"I want to wake up the community and tell them there is something going on out there," Molina said.

As a graduate of the Conservatory of Peru, Molina said he was exposed to classical music from all over the world. Later, he performed at many five-star hotels worldwide and discovered tourists that journey far from their homes enjoy hearing their favorite music from their home countries.

Because of that, Molina mastered music from Russia, Hungary, Spain, South America and the Caribbean.

"If they were visiting from New York, I would play (Sinatra's) My Way."

He stresses he only plays music for which he has a passion.

"It's very important that I love the song."

He sites the popular pop-song, "The Macarena." It's a happy song, he said, and people like it, but he won't be playing it.

While he has performed as a solo artist, as well as with large orchestras for audiences in the thousands, on Sunday Molina will bring a handful of talented artists from around the world to the Audi. He calls his Russian saxophonist, Alex Nekrasov, a musical genius, and said his Asian violinist, Kailin Yong, is a virtuoso. Molina said he knows the best musicians, because he has traveled the world performing with the best musicians.

Molina also has appeared before America's troops for almost 20 years.

He moved here from Peru three decades ago, but after a life-saving kidney transplant 23 years ago, he wanted to give back to this country. He has performed so many USO shows he said the soldiers call him the "Latino Bob Hope."

Not only has he performed for the troops, he also has visited and played in schools for children whose parents are away in the service. It's the most rewarding thing he's ever experienced.

"It's not just me, up on a stage," he said, "it's about being a human being. My life has a sense of meaning."

His concert in Broomfield is a way to get back to music and share his love for it with an intimate audience. He admits he has made money, but the business of recording, traveling and the commercial side of music aren't what it's about anymore for Molina, who said he was losing his passion.

He believes artists have to share the emotion of the music with fans.

"I don't care if I make a lot of money. I just want to make music and be inspired," he said.

Article Comments

We reserve the right to remove any comment that violates our ground rules, is spammy, NSFW, defamatory, rude, reckless to the community, etc.

We expect everyone to be respectful of other commenters. It's fine to have differences of opinion, but there's no need to act like a jerk.

Use your own words (don't copy and paste from elsewhere), be honest and don't pretend to be someone (or something) you're not.

Our commenting section is self-policing, so if you see a comment that violates our ground rules, flag it (mouse over to the far right of the commenter's name until you see the flag symbol and click that), then we'll review it.

Boulder is pretty good at producing rock bands, and by "rock," we mean the in-your-face, guitar-heavy, leather-clad variety — you know, the good kind. For a prime example, look no farther than BANDITS. Full Story